Expertise, Authority and Control
The Australian Army Medical Corps in the First World War

Charts the development of Australian medicine in WWI and the provision of medical care to Australian soldiers.

Alexia Moncrieff (Author)

9781108478151, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 February 2020

236 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.9 cm, 0.53 kg

'Critical historiographical evaluations are deftly woven through the chapters, with several theses, genres and themes investigated for how they might support or refute events under discussion … This is an important book which offers a far more nuanced account of Australia's medical campaign in the First World War than that of Simpson and his donkey.' Jan McLeod, Reconnaissance

Expertise, Authority and Control charts the development of Australian military medicine in the First World War in the first major study of the Australian Army Medical Corps in over seventy years. It examines the provision of medical care to Australian soldiers during the Dardanelles campaign and explores the imperial and medical-military hierarchies that were blended and challenged during the campaign. By the end of 1918, the AAMC was a radically different organisation. Using army orders, unit war diaries and memoranda written to disseminate information within the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) and between British and Australian soldiers, it maps the provision of medical care through casualty clearance and evacuation, rehabilitation, and the prevention and treatment of venereal disease. In doing so, she reassesses Australian military medicine and maps the transition to an infrastructure for the AIF in the field, especially in response to conflicts with traditional imperial, military and medical hierarchies.

Introduction. More than just a man and his donkey
1. Gallipoli: a case of criminal negligence
2. Medicine in the lines: stationary warfare on the Western Front, 1916–1917
3. The Western Front in 1918: the AAMC in mobile warfare
4. A pleasant dose of medicine? The purpose, place and practice of auxiliary hospitals
5. The most difficult problem: preventing and treating venereal disease
Conclusion. Developing an Australian medical service.

Subject Areas: History of medicine [MBX], First World War [HBWN], Military history [HBW]